Reanimating the 80s: Breaking Down the Fashion of Lisa Frankenstein with Meagan McLaughlin Luster
Character by character, the costume designer walks us through her work on the cult classic in the making
by Lana Thorn & Alex Secilmis 12 November 2024
© Focus Features
From neon spandex to Victorian burial suits, Meagan McLaughlin Luster had her work cut out for her on Lisa Frankenstein. It was quite the brief: an 80s-set ‘coming of RAGE story’ about the titular misunderstood teenager (Kathryn Newton) and her resurrected 19th-century boyfriend known as The Creature (Cole Sprouse). And costume plays a pivotal role in their murderous romance and journey to self-discovery. As Lisa grows in confidence, so does her wardrobe: her “pirate skeezer dress” and Madonna-meets-axe-murderer ensemble are fast becoming cosplay favourites. Thankfully, as the fan response attests, McLaughlin Luster was as skilled at dressing the inhabitants of the heightened 80s world as the wires-crossed lovers were at hacking them up.
“Costume designers don’t often get this kind of opportunity,” the 47-year-old artist explains over Zoom. She’s calling me from her home in New Orleans, wearing a vintage faded purple coverall from Banana Republic and a matching wide-brim hat. “Fashion isn’t usually so front and centre, but the script was unique and called for clothing that would stand out.” McLaughlin Luster’s road to the most demanding and celebrated work of her career began, like Lisa Frankenstein, in the 80s. When old enough to stay home alone, she would watch movies and raid her parents’ closet to imitate character costumes. “For Romancing the Stone, I recreated Kathleen Turner’s dress and started jumping off the fireplace, pretending I was swinging from a vine.” She turned passion into profession after a costume design seminar in college convinced her she had found her dream job. She has gone on to design for horror films like 10 Cloverfield Lane and Happy Death Day while working as a costume supervisor on acclaimed TV series from True Detective to Roots (2016), earning an Emmy nomination for the latter.
When director Zelda Williams got to work on the script for Lisa Frankenstein, she knew the acerbic pen of Diablo Cody (Juno, Jennifer’s Body) had to be paired with a striking visual style. In addition to borrowing a tone of “earnest camp” from 80s and 90s hallmarks like Heathers, Beetlejuice, and Death Becomes Her, the film also resonates with those references as a showcase for bold costume design. And Lisa Frankenstein is bound to join that list of cult classics—thanks in no small part to McLaughlin Luster.
LISA
© Focus Features
“My advantage was living through the decade,” the costume designer tells me. The 80s are Hollywood’s go-to object of nostalgia, but while bright spandex does make an appearance, Lisa Frankenstein is decidedly not a neon-drenched pastiche. Instead, the designer leveraged her real-life experience—and her own closet—for an authentic recreation of the period. “In the late 80s, you wore autumnal colours,” she elaborates. “I would wear the button-downs with a brooch at the neck, pleated shorts with a braided belt, and white bobby socks with penny loafers.” If that sounds familiar, it’s because it perfectly describes Lisa’s grave-tending outfit when she visits The Creature. The look comes almost entirely from McLaughlin Luster’s teenage wardrobe.
With only six weeks of prep, the costume designer worked fast with her team to the tune of 80s Spotify playlists (Depeche Mode was a favourite), flicking through magazines of the time like Bop and Teen Beat. For many materials, she shopped directly from the decade and, like for Lisa’s graveyard garb, sourced her own kit—primarily from Benetton, Esprit, and Banana Republic. In fact, most of Lisa’s costumes are directly assembled from or inspired by the designer’s own clothing.
McLaughlin Luster (middle) in the 80s
© Focus Features
For McLaughlin Luster, a job always begins by dissecting the script and deep-diving into the characters—and she relished the challenge of dressing a Diablo Cody protagonist. We meet Lisa two years after her mother’s death by axe murder: stuck in a traumatised, reclusive state in a town where her grief is treated like an inconvenience. But when The Creature comes out of his grave, she comes out of her shell. Before long, she’s an axe murderess herself. “She just fell into the habit of murder!” the designer laughs while defending her muse, whom she also connected to as a fellow seamstress. “Lisa chose her victims wisely.”
In the opening scene, with a red bow in her hair, Lisa visits the Creature’s grave wearing a red dress with white stripes and a floral print, evoking the “pattern on pattern” button-downs of McLaughlin Luster’s youth. “It had to be red,” she explains. “Red was a key factor in our film because Zelda wanted to emulate Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!” Like the 1989 Almodóvar film, bright reds fill the frame, from Lisa’s lipstick to the head of her axe—and many of her costumes to come.
Another standout costume features some eye-popping red, but you wouldn’t know it. After getting drugged and assaulted at a high school party, Lisa has a black-and-white fever dream. In the surreal sequence, we see her with a towering bouffant and an elegant dress. Lisa’s subconscious styles the Victorian-esque gown with a beer logo after the can her attacker was drinking from. The scene blends old silent films with stop motion, and, to add to the tactility, both the room and the costumes are hand-painted. So, McLaughlin Luster painstakingly painted the huge Pabst beer logo herself. “I’m proud I did it myself. There was a lot of trial and error, but I think I knocked it out of the park,” she admits with a smile. “Everyone was amazed when Kathryn walked out on set.” The designer cites the “fever dream dress” as her proudest moment both in the film and across her career.
McLaughlin Luster and Kathyrn Newton at a fitting
McLaughlin Luster’s sketch for the “fever dream dress”
In a slow-motion walk set to Echo & The Bunnymen, Lisa announces her new look at school with a so-called “pirate skeezer dress”. She turns heads while her stepsister, Taffy, tells her cheerleading friends, “She could probably do pageants if she had congeniality.” This dress, along with the Blossom-inspired hat accompanying it, was one of the costumes written into the script. Due to time and budget constraints, McLaughlin Luster bought it from the punk gothic brand Dark in Love (it’s now very much sold out, thanks to many a devoted fan).
In the next day’s morning montage, now set to The Jesus and Mary Chain, Lisa rocks a red-and- black buffalo check cropped shirt with black leggings, lace gloves, and a pleated skirt adorned with chains (Taffy’s comment of the day: “Half the school is headed to boner town”). “I chose the Bardot top in tribute to Winona Ryder in Heathers, who was a major influence on Lisa post-Creature,”
McLaughlin Luster explains. “Early Lisa was inspired by my fashion. Later in the film, she’s all Winona.” Fun fact: when Taffy asks, “Is that my half-shirt from Contrampo?” she’s using a common nickname for the now-defunct retail chain Contempo Casuals.
The “pirate skeezer dress” © Focus Features
The “contrampo” half-shirt and skirt © Focus Features
While not often the stars of costume design in film, pyjamas are given quite the spotlight in Lisa Frankenstein. From a Cathy comic sleeping shirt to a green and pink floral print suit, nightwear gives us an important glimpse into the character’s private lives. The standout pyjama scene sees Lisa and The Creature have a heart-to-heart in bed. “The cowboy-print pyjamas were mine,” McLaughlin Luster says. “They’re just such a great set, and I tried to put them in a couple of movies before, but this was the first one where it worked. Originally, one of the producers requested this 80s dress called a Lansing nightgown for Lisa, and I picked the cowboy pyjamas for Creature. Then, we switched them because it was funnier. And it was really cute.”
For the murderous finale, Lisa wears what McLaughlin Luster calls her “dark spin on a wedding dress” that borrows its bow and frills from a certain 80s icon. “That was my take on Madonna’s Like a Virgin dress meets a modern Bride of Frankenstein,” she explains. “And I knew it had to be polka dots. I drew that from one of my dresses for a school dance.” The designer workshopped the dress until actress Kathryn Newton was as comfortable and confident in it as possible. “I listen to my actors,” she stresses. “The last thing you want is to force an outfit. And I appreciated working with Kathryn because she’s very aware of her body. She was a model when she was younger.”
Kathryn Newton in McLaughlin Luster’s “dark spin on a wedding dress”
A shocking conclusion sees Lisa suffer death by tanning bed (don’t worry, it’s for romantic reasons!). After her resurrection, she sports a fashionable recovery outfit: an 80s buttoned red dress, the Blossom hat, and a head-to-toe gauze covering. “I had gotten five period-specific dresses, but I think ultimately we picked that dress because it fit over all the bandages,” McLaughlin Luster explains. “We had to wrap Kathryn in her trailer, and she was wonderfully patient because it was 1000 degrees outside. August in New Orleans is like Hades.”
CREATURE
© Focus Features
While the script gave McLaughlin Luster plenty of material to get into Lisa’s headspace, it was a different story with The Creature. “It’s hard to deep dive into somebody who doesn’t speak,” she explains. But she knew enough to make a start: he’s deeply in love with Lisa, he values his appearance (being a distinguished Victorian gentleman), and Cole Sprouse’s performance would take inspiration from Buster Keaton. The last point was especially exciting for the costume designer, who named her daughter Keaton after her favourite silent film star.
McLaughlin Luster could rely on personal experience for the protagonist. To dress Lisa’s lover, she had to turn to the books. “I love research,” she says. “I read books like The Victorian Book of the Dead and Making Victorian Costumes for Men so I could accurately make Victorian funeral garb and frock coats.” The result is a stunning burial outfit—but we only see it covered in mud. “Even with the mud, it had to be all pretty and tailored because he’s a very sophisticated gentleman. And I was very specific about the fabric because I wanted to connect Creature to Lisa.” His jacket has embossed roses on it, while Lisa’s Madonna/Goth Bride dress has flowers and vines. “It’s not necessarily an easter egg, but I always want to connect characters emotionally through the clothing.”
To read the full article, order Issue 002 now